Hurricane Rita

"Potentially catastrophic" is how the National Hurricane Center describes Hurricane Rita as it heads for Texas.

The Category Five storm's sustained winds have only diminished a little bit in the most recent data, down to 170 miles-per-hour from 175. The storm is less than 500 miles southeast of Galveston, Texas.

A forecaster at the National Hurricane Center says Rita is "as strong as Katrina was at its height."

Nearly a (m) million and a half residents in Texas and Louisiana have evacuated and the government is moving emergency resources of all kinds into place ahead of the storm.

Texas officials say both sides of a major highway out of Houston are now limited to northbound traffic away from the coast. Houston's mayor says officials are considering a similar step on other highways.

In Texas, Galveston, Corpus Christi and the surrounding county and low-lying parts of Houston are under mandatory evacuation orders. In Louisiana, the few residents in New Orleans have been told to leave.

Online Public Information File

Viewers with disabilities can get assistance accessing this station's FCC Public Inspection File by contacting the station with the information listed below. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, 888-835-5322 (TTY), or fccinfo@fcc.gov.